Who Am I Writing For?
After considering your purpose for writing, many authors don’t think about their audience. Your audience is your real goal, authors. If you write a book, great—if you want people to read it, you have to tell them about it. But which “them”?
Eh? Sounds like marketing? Why can’t you just write? It’s so much easier to write a potty-training manual to moms and dads and other caregivers who need your tips on getting that toddler to aim in the appropriate place. If you’re writing your memoir, you have a preconceived idea of who’s interested in which family event or wants to know that backstage secret, and who needs to buy copies. If you want to attract readers to your amazing literary talent, you have to write for them, in a language and setting they can relate to, with characters they want to befriend, having catastrophes they want to fix.
Turn the issue around. What do you love to read and why? Where do you do your best reading? How do you find the book that makes you sigh when you read the last sentence and wish there was more? Do you like to engage in social media with authors or their fans? Do you visit blogs or attend events to network with others like you or your favorite authors? It’s not a far stretch to realize you might be writing for readers like yourself. In that case, you know what to do, so carry on and do what you do best. If, however, you’re not sure who’s going to read your work, you might want to stop and think about it.
Here is some basic food for thought:
- Can you identify your genre without getting too flustered or smashing too many different subgenres together?
- What age group might want to read your story?
- Are your readers in book clubs?
- Are they into obscure facts or historical eras or weird science?
- Do they hang out in sports arenas or bars, or the beach?
- Do they like pets or politics?
- What ethnicity best describes them?
- Most importantly, do they have lots of friends they can talk to about your book.
Some writers like visuals and clip pictures of people who resemble their characters or their dream settings. Go a step further and summon names and faces of people in your circle who will read your book.
Savvy writers know what they’re writing, who’s going to read it, and a pretty good idea of how to reach their readers. So, yes, you can just go ahead and write. That’s what revision is all about…. If you’d rather spend more time writing new material rather than rehashing and rewriting because you just realized your book is more adult dystopian while you were attempting to channel your inner Betty Smith, you might want to go that route from the top.
No writing is wasted. It’s all just practice until someone pays you money. Preferably a lot of someones who aren’t related to you. Enjoy writing with a vision of your readers in mind. Go steadily onward, sensibly, self-assured, and with purpose. Come, hang out at Novel Bookcamp with others who understand your dilemmas and will work with you to resolve them. June 16-22, 2024. www.novelbookcamp.org
